Reaper
by TheSweetSerenity
Summary: A Teenchester story! Sam is 13 and Dean is 17. It seems the Winchester luck has struck again when Dean and John specifically leave Sam out of a hunt for a dangerous spirit. The hunt still manages to find Sam though.
1. Chapter 1

**So this is a new story that's been stuck in my head for awhile. Reviews are welcome! Enjoy! :)**

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Well, it appeared Winchester luck had kicked in again. What had started out as a simple salt and burn had turned into something far more complicated. It wasn't the spirits bones that held her on this plane of existence. Turns out, she had killed herself, believing that her boyfriend was following her into death. However, as teenagers usually do, he discovered that love wasn't really everything and she had ended up facing death by herself. So she had stuck around, believing that her boyfriend still loved her. In the mean time, she had decided to kill couples, telling them that they would "be together forever" before she killed them.

So after finding out that burning her remains wouldn't do anything, they had decided on a confrontation. Maybe if she learned that her boyfriend no longer loved her, she would move on. It was a risky situation—either she would break down and move on or she would get pissed off and go completely homicidal.

That's where things had started going wrong.

They had promised the spirit-Sara was her name- that they would bring her boyfriend, Mark, to see her. Not believing them, she decided to take something as leverage. And that something just happened to be Sam, who they had left in the motel room, not wanting to tempt fate. It seemed fate had been tempted anyway.

"Sam?" Dean called out when he got to the motel room. "We're back!" there was no answer. With a frown, he checked the bathroom before racing outside. His heart seemed to have stopped beating.

John caught onto Dean's fear. "Sam!" he barked. If anything would make Sam come out, his father's strict tone would. Silence followed. Dean whipped out his phone, hitting the first speed dial. The phone rang four times before connecting to voicemail. He slammed the phone shut, flipping it open again immediately to dial again. When he got voicemail again, Dean let the phone drop out of his hand.

"Sam!" he cried desperately.

The first thing Sam noticed when he woke up was the cold. He had been dressed for a day in a warm motel room, not for the biting cold of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Even though it was only September, the weather grew bitter quickly. The locals predicted snow within the week. Why anyone would ever want to live here was beyond Sam.

The next thing he noticed was the dark. He felt grass under his bare feet and hands, so he knew he was outside somewhere. His eyes started to adjust and he recognized tall trees and dense undergrowth. Great. He could be anywhere. The town they were staying in was surrounded by forests.

Speaking of here, he wasn't quite sure how he got here. He remembered that he had the room to himself while his brother and father went off hunting a ghost. They were going to make a deal with it, off Sam's suggestion. It was the only thing he could think of, short of killing Mark himself. After they left, he had started on his homework for the weekend. When they were hunting, he could never be sure when he had time to get it done. Then the temperature had dropped. Sam was smart enough to know what that meant. He had been checking the salt lines, gun in hand when…

Right. That ghost, the one they had been chasing had appeared. He had gone to fire, but before he could get a shot off, she had slammed him against a wall and he had passed out. Just thinking about it made his head pound. Unconsciously, he moved a hand to the back of his head. There was definitely a bump where he had hit. He groaned and pulled himself up, steadying his balance against a tree. His body was not happy about this little adventure.

He fished his phone out of his pocket, glad to see that at least he still had that. 10 missed calls flashed on the screen, along with 5 voicemails. His battery was blinking, warning him he didn't have long. At least he managed to pull in a signal out here in the middle of nowhere. Instead of sapping his battery of any power, he opened up the text message.

_I'm fine. She took me somewhere. My battery is dying, don't know how long it'll last._

He hit send, hoping his brother would keep cool long enough to realize that calling Sam was _not _the answer. Within seconds his phone beeped, alerting him to a text message.

_Do you have any idea where you are? _

Sam wondered if his dad had taken control of the phone. If Dean was in control, he would have sent at least ten more questions.

_Somewhere in the woods. I can hear the lake, but not the road. _

_Are you hurt? Is she with you?_

_No and no._

"You can tell them that I'll return you when they return my boyfriend." A girl's voice said beside him.

"Shit!" Sam exclaimed, dropping the phone, he swooped it up as he threw himself as far away from the ghost as possible. She looked at him with an impatient face.

"Well? Are you going to tell them? I didn't bring you here to hurt you, just to make sure they keep their end of the deal." She said. Sam sensed the truth in her words, but she was a spirit and didn't feel the cold anymore.

"Well bringing me to the middle of nowhere dressed like this certainly doesn't help your case. I'm going to freeze out here if I don't have shelter and warmth." He told her, watching her every move. Just because she didn't mean any harm, didn't mean she'd keep that promise. Sam had found that out the hard way. When she didn't respond, he pulled out the phone and sent the text message.

_She said she'd give me back when you bring her boyfriend. _

_Be careful. We're trying to track your phone. _

_Just find her boyfriend and text me when you do. It'll be the quickest way to solve this. _

He was trying to be reasonable, but his family was anything but that. If they didn't bring Mark, Sam wasn't sure how they would get her to move on.

"So. You're dead, huh?" Sam asked, deciding that the silence was too dangerous. He needed something to keep himself alert, so the cold didn't take him.

"Hm." Was all she said. She stared off in the distance for awhile, her form flickering in and out. "You know, I don't mean anyone harm. I just get lonely here. Sometimes others stay for awhile, and keep me company."

"You mean the people you killed." Sam said darkly. This spirit actually believed she wasn't hurting anyone. That made her all the more dangerous.

"I didn't kill them. I just gave them what they wanted. Now they can be together forever."

"Maybe they could have stayed together in life if you had let them. Now they won't ever get married, or have kids."

"They don't need any of that if they have each other."

"What are you going to do if Mark doesn't want you anymore?" Sam knew he was toeing the line, but if she was in a giving mood, he would be the taker. He wanted to gauge her feelings to see if their plan would actually work. The air around her suddenly grew colder and Sam had to pull back. he couldn't afford to grow any colder.

"He'll still want me. And then once he agrees to come with me, we can be together forever."

Sam shook his head. "You'll just fade into the next life. There's no guarantee you'll ever see each other again."

Sara's face took on a strange expression. It almost seemed…determined. "Not if I bind him to me. Then he can never leave me again."

Sam grew cold, not from the weather, but from her words. a spirit binding a spirit? That could not end well. "But if you bind him to you, you'll never be able to leave this plane of existence."

And if she bound Mark to her, Sam had no idea how they would be able to send her away. Sure, maybe she would stop killing, but once spirits started, they tended to keep at it. Force of habit basically.

"It won't matter. I won't be lonely anymore."


	2. Chapter 2

**Because of the popular support for this story, I decided to spoil you and give you an early story update! After this, there's only one more chapter and a short epilogue, so enjoy and keep those reviews coming in! :)

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Dean jumped when his phone went off. He scrambled to open it, almost dropping it in the process.

_I'm fine. She took me somewhere. My battery is dying, don't know how long it'll last. _

"Shit Sammy!" he exclaimed, immediately going to call him. John had read over his shoulder though, and grabbed the phone from his hands.

"Calling him is just going to kill the battery faster. If we're going to find him, we need to be able to stay in contact with him." His father typed back a quick message, asking him if he knew where he was.

_Somewhere in the woods. I can hear the lake but not the road._

"Great." Dean groaned, trying to control the anger boiling inside. "That could be anywhere." He couldn't sit still anymore. He jumped to his feet, pacing back and forth in the motel room, letting his dad take control of the situation.

"God, what a bitch!" Dean couldn't help but roar. His father gave him that _look_, the one that said if he didn't calm down, his dad was going to calm him down, which would most likely result in him getting knocked out. Dean snapped his mouth shut.

"You're brother says he's not hurt. She's not there either." John said, shutting the phone. He joined his son in pacing—one of the many traits Dean had picked up from him.

"How did she even know where to find him? We haven't taken him with us on any of our hunting trips for her." Dean asked.

"She must have been watching us as soon as she pegged us for hunters." John answered. The phone beeped again. He opened it, confused.

_She said she'd give me back when you bring her boyfriend. _

"She's really determined to see this kid, isn't she?" Dean asked. "It's not going to be easy to get him anywhere."

"We'll get him face to face with her, no matter what." John said darkly. "In the meantime, call the phone company. See if they can trace Sam's cell phone." He typed back a message. Almost instantly, the reply came. Typical Sam, putting everything before himself.

"The phone company says that the battery must be too low for them to trace. They can give us a general area, but their general area is about the size of this town. God I hate small towns." Dean complained. John paused, thinking quickly.

"Come on, we're getting that guy now. I'm not waiting till morning to get Sammy back." he said, quickly packing up weapons. Dean hurried over to Sam's duffel, shifting through clothes to pull out a sweatshirt and a heavier jacket. He grabbed one of the blankets off the bed, rolling it into a ball. "What are you doing?"

"If she's got Sam out in the woods, he's going to be freezing. When we left, he was only wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt. It's basically winter out there."

John froze—he hadn't thought about that. He grabbed Sam's shoes and led the way out. Now it was even more important that they found Sam as soon as possible.

_We'll find him and then we're coming for you._

Sam shivered. He was desperately trying to stay awake, but the cold seemed to seep through his bones. His feet had gone completely numb at least a half hour ago. There was no way he was getting out of this one without a cold.

"What's wrong with you?" Sara asked, tilting her head to the side. She looked like a little kid who wanted to know what would happen if you pointed direct sunlight at an ant. Sam shivered again.

"I'm cold. I know you can't feel the cold, but I can. I can't survive much longer out here."

"That's silly. It's not that cold out."

"Sara, when was the last time you felt any temperature change?" he snapped, immediately regretting it. He didn't know how much he could push her before she would snap. However, the knowledge that his dad and brother were looking for Mark seemed to keep her happy enough.

"Here." She said, moving closer to him. She put her arms around him, like she had seen so many of the boys do when the girl got cold. To her dismay, Sam shot out from her hold, panting hard. Her skin had been so cold…so cold.

"Not helpful. You're freezing too." Sam said, shivering constantly now. "Why don't you just let me go? My family will hold up their promise." He pleaded.

"I don't want to be lonely." Sara pouted. In some ways, she reminded him of a child, not of a thirty year old spirit who had lived for 17 years. "You're good company." She said brightly. Sam's stomach sank. Maybe it would be better if she was pissed at him. Then she wouldn't get attached.

Suddenly Sam's phone beeped. With fumbling fingers due to the cold, he flipped it open.

_We've got him. Make her tell you where you are._

"They have Mark. They need to know where we are."

"Tell them we'll meet them at the park. Walking will be good for you, right? It'll warm you up?" she asked worriedly, seeing his whole body shaking. Sam really just wanted to go to sleep, but she was right. Walking would warm him up and force him to stay awake.

_She says to meet us at the park. I hope you brought warm clothes. I'm freezing. _

He hoped it was Dean who was looking at the phone. Dean would laugh, but his dad would probably just look at him disappointed and shake his head.

_Don't worry Sammy. We'll get you warm before you get a nasty cold. And if you do, I'm not taking care of you._

Sam smiled as he forced his body into a standing position. He knew Dean's threat was juts empty words. the smile dropped off his face when he looked up and saw Sara standing so close to him that he could feel the chill radiate off her. He took a step back, hoping she wouldn't notice. She did, the hurt in her eyes telling him that.

"Lead the way." He said, hoping that would give him a proper excuse to step back. She turned her back on him and began walking off into the night.

It turned out keeping track of a ghost was hard work. Sometimes she seemed to blend in with the background, or even just completely disappear. They made slow progress because whenever he lost Sara, he had to stop and call out for her to come back.

And when he wasn't calling out for Sara, he was busy trying to control the great hacking coughs that seemed to shake his entire body. He knew that if Dean heard just one of them, he would abandon all caution and probably get himself killed trying to get Sam out of there. So he started biting his lip, letting his shivers cover up his shuddering body. Though now, those shivers were starting to lessen. This wasn't good at all. He was just happy when he saw the break in the trees.

His family had beaten them to the park. He sighed in relief when he saw Dean standing next to his father, arms crossed and foot tapping nervously. A bag lay at his face. When he saw Sam, his face broke open in a grin, though it dimmed significantly when Sara appeared in front of him. A gasp drew Sam's attention to a third person. So this must the famous Mark. He didn't really care right now. He made to move towards his family, only to be thrown back against a tree. The already sensitive bump on his head flared with pain and Sam slid to the ground, stunned.

"You bitch!" Dean made to move towards her, but John put a hand on his arm to hold him back.

"You said that if we brought you Mark, you would give us back Sam." John said, dangerously calm.

"You can't just give me to her!" Mark squeaked from behind them.

"Shut up." Dean and John said at the same time.

Sam blinked furiously, trying to get his vision in line again. When he was sure he could hold his own, he began to stand up.

"I'll give him back when Mark agrees to go with me." She said icily. This was the spirit Sam had been avoiding bringing out.

"What does she mean, go with her? Like…die?" Mark whispered.

Sam staggered to his feet. "No!" he blurted out. "You can't let her. she's going to bind him to her." Dean looked horrified at Sam's announcement. Sara rounded on Sam, fury blazing in her eyes. She had trusted this one! And now he was turning on her! "Sara, you can't do this. He doesn't love you anymore. You have to let him go."

"You ruined everything!" she exclaimed, throwing everyone off their feet. Sam though, she focused her anger on. She sent him flying back. Dean watched in horror as he flew straight at a rock. There was a sickening noise, and Sam slid to the ground. His eyes stared straight forward, unseeing. Dean didn't even care about the spirit anymore. He jumped to his feet, John close behind him, as they raced to Sam.

"Sam, Sammy, come on you're going to be okay. Just blink for me buddy." Dean pleaded as John gently pulled his head up to examine the wound. His hand came away bright red. Even for a head wound, it was bleeding far too badly. Sam's chest gave a last heaving breath before it ceased movement. "Sam!" Dean cried, beginning chest compressions as his dad took over breathing for him.

Sam pulled himself to his feet. He felt strange, like he was…empty. Not tied down. Perhaps the weirdest sensation was the fact that he wasn't cold anymore, nor was he hot. He could see the frost on the grass, but he couldn't feel it. Suddenly fearing the worst, he looked around him. Sure enough, just behind him, his brother leaned over his body, pushing hard. His dad had his mouth locked on his, pushing precious oxygen into his lungs. He shuddered, looking back at the scene in front of him. Sara had turned to face him, her eyes greedily watching him. He shivered.

"If I can't have him, I'll take you!" she cried. "Come see me." She whispered with a smile, gesturing for Sam to come closer. He knew better thankfully.

"No." he said stubbornly. "I shouldn't be here."

His senses screamed at him that something else was there too. He turned to see a woman standing between him and his body. She had on black pants and a black sweater. She screamed of motherly instinct to Sam.

"Come with me honey. Its time to go home." She told him kindly, opening her arms to him. Part of him screamed to go with her, but another cautioned him not to. That wouldn't get him back to his family. He shook his head.

"I know what you are. You're a reaper." He said, backing away from both of the women.

Sara actually hissed at the reaper. "He's _mine_. You can't have him."

The reaper glared at her, anger flashing in her eyes. "You own nothing. Return to Hell." She said with a gesture. Sara screamed in pain, breaking through even Dean and John's grief. Her form flickered, then burst into tiny spots, like dust balls. She turned back to Sam.

"You need to come with me."

"No. I shouldn't be here. I should be back in my body." Sam said. Tears jumped to his eyes. He didn't want to be here. He could still hear Dean pleading with him, _screaming _at him, to come back. A fluttering beating noise filled Sam's ears.

"You can't go there. It's too late for you." She told him gently. Sam realized what the beating noise was. _His heart_.

"You're wrong! I just wanna go home!" he cried. The world around him seemed to swirl and suddenly he was gasping for breath. His eyelids flickered and opened, taking in shocked expressions from his family members.

"Sam!" Dean yelled through his tears, a smile breaking out on his face.

"Dad!" Sam gasped out. He knew he would have to plead with his father for what he was about to say. "You have to bind my spirit to my body! There's a reaper." He managed to get out, before his eyes rolled back in his head. Sam sank into blissful unconsciousness.

John and Dean stared at the youngest Winchester for a second before they snapped back into action.

"Come on Dean, get him wrapped in that blanket and let's get him to the hospital." John said, picking Sam up. The kid was still easy to lift, though they didn't expect it to last much longer. They could both tell Sam was going to hit a growth spurt soon. Dean grabbed the blanket out of the bag.

"What about me?" Mark protested.

"Go to hell." Dean said, not even bothering to turn around.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry that this update took so long! I was out of town all weekend, picking up my newly graduated sister from college :) Anywho, I hope you were all patient enough for this update! Keep up the reviews :)

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They hustled into the Impala, Dean sliding into the back with Sam. "Dad what happened to that spirit?"

"It sounds like she was trying to get Sam to stay with her." John said stonily. He was trying to keep everything in. he couldn't break down now, not with Dean so fragile. "If there _is _a reaper around, it wouldn't have stood for that. They don't like spirits who hang around and who tempt others to stay. Most likely, the reaper fried her and sent her to Hell."

"What did Sam mean by binding his spirit to his body? I didn't think you could do that."

John sighed and rubbed a hand down his face before he responded. "The kid would know about that. There's a way to bind a spirit to a body, so it can't leave. If we did that to Sam, the reaper wouldn't be able to get to him."

"But?"

"But it's a risky thing to do. If the body dies while the spirit is still bound to it, there's no afterlife for the spirit. It just fades out of existence. And not only is it an extremely complicated and difficult ritual to perform, the chances of undoing it so the spirit can go on later in life is virtually impossible. If it doesn't work the first time, it's not going to ever work."

Dean bit his lip, thinking hard. Both sounded like losing situations. However, he would rather his baby brother be able to move on if he couldn't save him then be stuck in his body forever. "We aren't going to do it though, are we?"

"We'll give him time; see how his body is healing. It's a last option solution." He pulled off onto the road that indicated the direction of the hospital. Sam's breathing had gotten shaky again, and his heart beat was erratic and slow. "The story is, he got lost hiking out in the woods earlier in the day and didn't get out in time before nightfall. He was catching cold and he fell and landed on a rock. That's when we found him."

Dean nodded as they pulled into the emergency lane. He threw open the door, gathering Sam in his arms. This close, Dean could hear that his breath was rasping. That couldn't be a good sign. A doctor and a couple nurses were already racing out towards them.

"What happened?" one of the nurses asked as the doctor felt for a pulse.

"He's barely breathing, we need to get a tube down his throat." He ordered. Another nurse raced to follow his command.

"He was just going for a walk in the woods. When he didn't come home after dark, we went out looking for him. He must have tripped and his head." Dean said, real fear showing through his voice.

"We need to get him warmed up, he's going hypothermic doctor." One of the nurses said, removing a thermometer.

"What's his name?" another nurse asked. "Does he have any allergies to any medication?"

"Sam. Sam Masters." John answered hurriedly. "And no, he doesn't. He stopped breathing though, when we found him. We performed CPR though, and he started breathing again."

"How long did he stop breathing?" the doctor snapped. He needed to get this kid to an MRI machine to see how bad the damage to his head was.

"No more than two minutes, but no less than one." John answered, though his voice wavered.

"We'll send someone out when we have information for you." The doctor said, vanishing with Sam behind the doors. Dean's legs gave out on him, and his dad had to hold him upright. He helped move Dean over to a chair as a nurse rushed up.

"Is he okay?" she asked, checking his pupils. "Shit, he's going into shock."

"Dean! Snap out of it! That's an order." John commanded, sounding stronger than he felt. Dean blinked once, then he blinked again. He's eyes focused on the room, quickly taking in his surroundings. "You have to be strong for Sammy." He said more gently. Dean nodded.

"Sorry sir."

The nurse checked him over again, satisfied that he didn't need any more medical attention. The two Winchester's settled in for a long wait.

After what seemed like hours, the doctor came out.

"Mr. Masters?" he called. John and Dean hurried over.

"John. This is my son Dean." He offered his hand and the doctor accepted.

"I'm Dr. Young. I took care of Sam."

"How's Sammy?" Dean asked desperately.

"We can't be sure about anything right now. We've got him stabilized. The head wound was quite serious and we had to remove some of the fluid build up in his brain. He also was close to catching pneumonia, but we caught it in time we think. We'll be monitoring it carefully."

"What about the head wound. Is there any possible brain damage?" John asked.

The doctor nodded. "With any head wound, there always a possibility, especially with one as serious as Sam's. We won't know anything until he wakes up. If he does wake up. He slipped into a coma soon after coming out of surgery." The doctor told them.

Dean felt numb inside. His brother couldn't be this close to death. Sam was a fighter, always had been. He had even gone to school with a broken rib one day because he hadn't wanted to miss a test. The idea that he was so weak unnerved Dean.

"Can we see him doc?" Dean pleaded. The doctor nodded.

"Follow me." He led them down a hall before stopping outside a door. "Understand, he's hooked up to a lot of machines right now. The tube is still down his throat as he was having some difficulties breathing for himself. You can stay as long as you like. If you have any questions or need anything, feel free to call for a nurse. If she can't help you, she'll page me." He said before moving off. Dean took a deep breath and entered the room, his dad following close behind. They froze in the entryway, caught off guard.

Sam lay on the bed, his skin incredibly pale. A tube had been taped to his throat and a machine _whoosed _and _clicked_ making sure Sam's body got decent amounts of oxygen. He was hooked up to an IV tube. Another machine beeped steadily, keeping track of his heart beat. Every once in awhile, there would be a blip, where his heart seemed to skip a beat. It always settled back down though.

"Oh God, Sammy." Dean whispered, suddenly needing contact. He grabbed a chair, pulling it up to the bed and lacing his fingers through Sam's. John pulled up another chair on the other side of the bed, just watching his youngest son's chest rise and fall with the machine.

"Sam." John breathed.

Sam watched his family. He longed to reach out, to let them know that it would all be okay. His father's voice seemed to cut straight through him. He sounded so…lost. And the great John Winchester was never lost.

"You're still wandering." A female voice said behind him. This time Sam didn't jump—he had felt her come up behind him. He turned, looking at the motherly figure before him sourly.

"And you're still here." He stated. She smiled at him.

"It's my job to help the lost find their path."

"I'm not lost. See? My body is right there. And it's alive and healing."

"Only because of the machines that are hooked to it. Remove them and you would die soon after."

Sam shook his head stubbornly. He had been the best one in his family when it came to holding grudges. Like hell he was going to let her win this argument. "My body just needs to time to heal and get stronger. Then I can get back in."

She smiled sadly. "You know as well as I do that isn't going to happen."

Sam sighed and sat down in one of the chairs, glad that at least his spirit could sit in them. "Well, if you're so damn insistent, I'm guessing you're going to keep me company while I wait. Do I at least get a name to work with?"

"I'm Jenna." She answered, sitting across from.

"Well Jenna, don't you have better things to do? Like reap someone who _wants _to move on?"

"Not right now. You are my only concern."

"Forgive me if I don't feel honored." She didn't answer, just looked at him, radiating that motherly instinct. The closest Sam had ever gotten to this was whenever Dean hovered over him while he was sick or injured. He leaned back, trying to find a comfortable position. "So I guess we're going to be here awhile. Got anything interesting to talk about?"

For the next week, Jenna kept Sam company, while Dean and his dad kept his body company. It didn't turn out to be nearly as boring as Sam thought it would be. Dean, remembering how much he loved reading, read to him for most of the day. Most of them were books he had read before, but it still kept him from going crazy. During his family's weak moments, they recounted adventures that had gone astray, or prank wars gone bad. Sam could tell it helped his family as much as it helped him.

He was still restless though. He could tell his body was healing. The doctor had come in and told them there was no danger of pneumonia or any other illness from being stuck out in the cold. He also told them that the head wound was healing nicely. It was up to Sam to wake up.

And Sam wanted to—he really did. Sometimes he would stand by his body for hours while his family slept, trying to find some way back in. no matter what he did though, he could not find the connection to it. There were a couple of times when he was alone that he thought he could _almost _feel it, but then Jenna would arrive again and distract him.

Jenna herself was an odd person. There were times when Sam could forget that she was not human—that she could take a human form. But sometimes she seemed so…_alien _to him. Like her mind was this vast landscape that he couldn't make out or understand. Every time he started to forget that she wasn't human though, he reminded himself that this creature was keeping him from his family. That helped him keep his distance from her.

"Sam, really, how long are you going to stay here before you realize nothing is going to change?" Jenna asked on his eighth day in the hospital.

Sam stubbornly shook his head. "I'll get better. I have to. My brother, my _family_, won't survive without me."

"They'll learn to move on. Families always do."

"Then you clearly haven't met my family." He told her with a snort. She looked like she was about to say something, then thought better of it and shut her mouth.

"It's a hazard of the job. They know it and you know it. Why not just accept it?" she asked.

"Maybe because this isn't what I want to do for the rest of my life. I want to go to school, maybe get a degree. Do something-" The hair on Sam's arm prickled and he unconsciously reached for the gun he didn't have. Instead he rubbed at his arms, as if trying to warm them up. "Do you feel that? Something's here." He said, looking around the room. There was no one there, except him, Jenna, and his family. Something tugged at the back of his mind. He fought against it for a second, before realizing that it was his body he was feeling. "My body! I-I can feel it!" he cried with joy. He closed his eyes, letting his spirit follow the connection to his body.

"No!" he heard Jenna yell as he disappeared from the spiritual plane.

His waking was anything but graceful and slow. It was abrupt and full of panic. After spending so much time being weightless, having a body threw him off. Pain pounded in his head and he couldn't breathe. His muscles tensed as he tried to pull in air through a throat forced open. His eyelids fluttered, then slammed shut when the bright light nearly blinded him.

"Sam?" Dean's shocked voice called out to him in his panic. Sam's hand groped out, trying to find something to hold onto. Dean grabbed one hand and his dad grabbed the other. "You have to calm down Sam, it's a breathing tube. Its helping you breathe."

Using an old code he and Dean had made up one incredibly boring weekend while their dad was out hunting, he told Dean his problem with the lights. Sam was surprised he still remembered it.

"Dad, the lights. They're too bright." Sam heard him say. He felt a pressure disappear from one hand as his dad moved off to the light switch. The intense pressure on his eyes faded as darkness descended on the room. He let his eyelids flutter open again. His brother loomed over him, in full mother hen mode. "Oh my god Sam, you're actually awake." He whispered. Sam tried to smile at him and squeezed his hand. Just then the doctors rushed into the room, flipping the lights back on. Sam flinched, sending new waves of pain through his skull and throat.

"Sam, I need you to open your eyes," a strange voice commanded him. It must have been a doctor.

"Doc, he tried earlier and it looked painful." Dean explained for him.

"Then dim them. Try again Sam." Sam cracked his eyelids. It still hurt but it wasn't as bad. "Good. Now we're going to remove this tube. I need you to exhale…" Sam did, though it was still a strange sensation. Pain flared in his throat as he felt them pull the tube out. After they pulled it out, he took in heaving breaths. "The last tests we did showed that he was in almost perfect health, so we can give you some time alone before we cart him off for more tests." The doctor said with a smile before walking out of the room.

"How'd you ditch the reaper Sammy?" Dean asked.

Sam opened his mouth to answer, but his throat hurt too much. Dean seemed to understand and grabbed an ice chip from a bucket, putting it in Sam's mouth for him. The cold helped ease the pain and wet his throat enough for him to talk.

"Don't know." His voice still cracked and sounded more like a croak than a voice. "One second I couldn't feel my body and the next I could." To Sam's dismay, he could it was harder and harder to keep his eyelids open. He strained to stay awake, but his body won the fight. The last thing he saw was Dean smiling and telling him to go to sleep.


	4. Epliogue

**So originally, this first part was going to be in the end of chapter 3, but i decided to make the epilogue longer so I moved it here. Anywho, this is the last part of this story so I hope you enjoy this and I hope you enjoyed the story! I'm going to have a new story up and going by tomorrow night, so check that out. Thanks for reading! :)

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Jenna stood in the room and watched in dismay as Sam's spirit reconnected with his body. Her power should have kept them apart, but something else was interfering. Sam had been right—something was here. She let her power feel around, immediately spotting her trouble.

"Azazel! Show yourself." She demanded. A form appeared in the doorway, garbed in doctor's clothing. If anyone else noticed him, they made no movement towards him. In fact, one of the doctors, in his rush to get to Sam, stepped right through him. "What gives you the right to interfere with this death? No deal has been made to my knowledge and the rules are clear."

"Right, right. Some human has to make a deal with a demon for the kid's life. Only then can a demon bring someone back to life." He dismissed the rules with a flippant hand, clearly believing himself above everything. He blinked and yellow clouded over his host's eyes. "Except in this case, Sam was clearly not dead. Just in an in-between state." He smirked, happy to flaunt the loophole to her.

"Maybe so, but what I want to know is how the boy knew that you were here before _I_ knew." She said, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about." Azazel told her happily. He could tell she was getting angry. Hey, it wasn't everyday he got to piss off a reaper.

"What did you do to him?" when Azazel still didn't answer him, she growled, her control slipping over her human form and flickering into her true form. "Answer me demon! Sam Winchester is my charge!"

"Probably keeps you busy too, doesn't he?" Azazel smirked. He shrugged when she frowned. Reapers could be dangerous to demons too, no matter how powerful said demon was. "Supernatural blood calls to supernatural things. What can I say?"

Jenna seemed to settle down, satisfied by the answer. "Hmm, must be your blood too. He still feels your presence in unconsciousness." She said, turning to look at the boy. He shifted uncomfortably, stilled by his older brother. "What do you mean to do with him?" she narrowed her eyes, making it obvious not answering was not a good choice.

"If I told you then it wouldn't be a secret, now would it?" He smirked. She was not amused. "Don't worry; you reapers will get your own part in it."

"It is no secret that you would kill these two." She said, nodding her head towards Dean and John. "Why don't you now?"

Azazel smiled. "It's not the right time. Reaper, you can try and taunt me, but I am smarter than you want to think. I'm not going to step in the doorway right into the devil's trap." He said, his smile disappearing, anger clearly burning behind his yellow eyes. "There is no love lost between our races, but if this plan is to work, you should not tempt fate."

Jenna growled at him again. "Leave my charge. You may have saved him this time, but next time I will take him."

"I have my own plans for the boy, and I never lose." Azazel said confidently. The doctor's form flickered and disappeared. Jenna watched the doorway suspiciously before she too, disappeared, leaving the Winchesters to be a family for at least another day.

It was another three days before the doctor let Sam get out of bed. A physical therapist had come in and worked on redeveloping Sam's weak muscles while he was still in bed, but his whole body still trembled when he put weight on it. While standing was fine, anything more than a few steps exhausted him. Dean made sure he was always present during these expeditions, to make sure Sam got back in bed when he was too tired to do anything else. Dean knew that if he didn't, Sam would keep trying to strengthen his muscles until he passed out cold on the floor.

After that it was two more days until he was released from the hospital. While their dad went to fill out the paperwork, Dean helped Sam pack up his things while Sam dressed. After every article of clothing, Sam had to stop and rest, panting with exhaustion.

"This is stupid Dean. How could I get so weak, so fast?" He asked after struggling to pull his shirt over his head. The movement left him dizzy.

Dean shrugged. "It'll just take time to build back up your strength. Dad'll be happy. Now he has a reason to make us do intense training."

Sam groaned—just what he needed. "Great. I can't wait." He fell silent, pulling his shoes on instead. Dean could tell there was something bothering Sam, but he decided not to push his brother. If he was just patient, his brother would tell him what was wrong. He didn't have to wait long. "Dean, there was something else there."

That startled Dean. "What do you mean?"

"Just before I woke up, I could feel it. There was something else there."

"Do you know what it was?" Sam shook his head. "Did it-did it help you get back to your body?"

"I-I think so." Sam said softly, looking down. He was ashamed to see goose bumps down his arms. He rubbed at them viciously. "But it confuses me. I think it helped me back, but I don't know why. And Dean. It wasn't some kind spirit or anything…it was pure evil. I could tell. Why would it want to help me?"

"I don't know Sam. Why dwell on it though? If it had any evil intentions, it wouldn't have brought you back." Dean said confidently. Inside though, his thoughts were rushing. _What if something was coming after his brother? What did something that Sam thought was so evil want with his brother? And why did it want him alive? _"I can't really hate it right now. I mean, it brought you back and that's hardly evil."

Sam slid down from the bed, steadying himself as his vision rushed to adjust to the shift in height. "Yeah, I guess so. Come on, let's go. I hate hospitals." He shouldered one of the back packs while Dean grabbed the other one, leading the way out of the room. If they had turned to look back, they would have seen a man with yellow eyes, watching them leave. A grin broke out on his face before he disappeared without a noise.


End file.
